Supposedly he hated being over-shadowed when Lebron returned from Miami and everything always being about Lebron whenever he'd get asked questions. Thought he would be treated on equal status with Lebron or would be groomed by Lebron to be the next mega star but neither happened.

Also probably realized how much of a dump the Cavs will be once Lebron left and didn't want to deal with the mess while Lebron got to have success elsewhere.

According to ESPN's Stephen A Smith, Irving believes Lebron was the one to leak his trade request to the media which caused another wedge to happen between the two.

Quote:

According to my sources, they believe LeBron James had everything to do with news getting out that Kyrie Irving wants to be traded, because Kyrie Irving and his representation and others met with the Cavaliers a couple weeks ago, and not a word got out until recently. They believe that LeBron James got word of it and was put off by it and leaked it. I’m not going to accuse LeBron of such a thing. I don’t know that to be true at all. But I know that’s what Kyrie Irving believes.

Would have been impossible because of Kyrie's salary I think. Cavs wanted either Brooklyn pick, Tatum, or Brown in any deal for Kyrie. Cs felt Tatum and Brown were more valuable than the Brooklyn pick since they also have another 1-2 potentially high picks for next year's draft

So Boston may or may not win the East this year but is there any team honestly competing with then the following season? And beyond. They have such a legit young team with more young 1st founders coming.

Cavs tried to demand one of Cs top young players or another 1st Rd pick due to Thomas' health status but got rejected on both by the Cs so had to settle for the 2nd Rd pick to avoid the deadline for the deal.

NBA changing their draft lottery system starting in 2019 with the biggest change being punishing teams who blatantly tank to try to get the #1 pick. Instead of the worst team getting 25% of all lotto balls, they will only get 14% which is the same amount the 2nd and 3rd worst teams will get.

Also increasing the amount of spots per lotto pick from 3 to 4 as another way to persuade against blatant tanking.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ESPN

The three teams with the worst records will share a 14 percent chance of getting the No. 1 overall pick, a change from the descending percentages of 25, 19.9, and 15.6 in the current system. Four teams -- increased from three -- will become part of the lottery draw, which means the No. 1 lottery seed could drop no further than fifth, No. 2 could drop no further than sixth, No. 3 no further than seventh, and No. 4 no further than eighth.